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Robin Hyde
Robin Hyde (19 January 1906 - 23 August 1939) was a New Zealand poet. Life Youth and education Hyde was born Iris Guiver Wilkinson in Cape Town, South Africa and taken to Wellington, New Zealand before her 1st birthday. She completed her secondary education at Wellington Girls' College, where she wrote poetry and short stories for the school magazine. When she was 18, Hyde suffered a knee injury which required a hospital operation. Lameness and pain haunted her for the rest of her life. She briefly attended Victoria University of Wellington. Career In 1925 she became a journalist for Wellington's Dominion newspaper, mostly writing for the women's pages. She continued to support herself through journalism throughout her life. While working at the Dominion, she had a brief love affair with Harry Sweetman, during which she became pregnant. Sweetman left her to travel to England, dying soon after his arrival. Hyde resigned from the Dominion in April 1926 and moved to Sydney, Australia. It was there that she lost her unborn son, Robin, whose name she took as her pseudonym. The trauma of losing both her lover and her child led to Hyde being hospitalised at Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer Springs, back in New Zealand. After a period of recovery, she began to write again, publishing poetry in several New Zealand newspapers in 1927. She was also engaged to write columns for the Christchurch Sun, and the Mirror. However, she became frustrated at the lack of creative input, as the papers merely wanted a social column. Social columns or women's pages were the main outlet available to women journalists during the period. These experiences contributed to her treatise on journalism in New Zealand, Journalese, published in 1934. In 1929 Hyde published her debut collection of poetry, The Desolate Star. In 1930 she took a leave of absence, and that October gave birth to a son, Derek Arden Challis, whose birth she kept secret. While forced to give the child up for foster care, she refused to let him be adoped, hoping to eventually make enough from her writing to support him.A Home in This World, Film Freeway. Web, July 16, 2019. Between 1935 and 1938 she published 5 novels: Passport to Hell (1936), Check To Your King (1936), Wednesday's Children (1937), Nor the Years Condemn (1938), and The Godwits Fly (1938). In early 1938 she left New Zealand and travelled to Hong Kong, arriving in early February. At the time, much of eastern China was under Japanese occupation, after the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Hyde was meant to travel to Kobe then Vladivostok to take the trans-Siberian railway to Europe. When the connection was delayed she made her way to Japanese-occupied Shanghai, where she met fellow New Zealander Rewi Alley. Various peregrinations through China followed, including Canton and Hankow, the latter of which was the center of Chinese resistance to Japanese occupation. Hyde moved north to visit the battlefront and was in Hsuchow when Japanese forces took the city on 19 May. She attempted to flee the area by walking along the railway lines and was eventually escorted by Japanese officials to the port city of Tsing Tao where she was handed over to British authorities. Shortly after she resumed her journey to England via sea, arriving in Southampton 18 September, 1938. Hyde died by her own hand in England in 1939 and is buried in Kensington New Cemetery, Gunnersbury. She was survived by her son, Derek. Publications Poetry *''The Desolate Star, and other poems''. Christchurch, NZ: Whitcomb & Tombs, 1929. *''Persephone in Winter: Poems''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1937. *''Houses by the Sea, and the later poems''. Christchurch, NZ: Caxton, 1952. *''Selected Poems'' (edited by Lydia Weavers). Auckland & New York: Auckland University Press, 1984. *''The Book of Nadath'' (edited by Michele J. Leggott). Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1999. *''Young Knowledge: The poems of Robin Hyde'' (edited by Michele J. Leggott). Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003. Novels *''Passport to Hell: The story of James Douglas Stark, bomber, Fifth Reinforcement, New Zealand Expeditionary Force''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1936 **(edited by Donald Ian Bryce Smith). Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1986; Chicago: Auckland University Press, 2013. *''Check to Your King: The life history of Charles, Baron de Thierry, King of Nukahiva, Sovereign Chief of New Zealand''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1938; Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1960; Auckland: Golden Press, 1975. *''Nor the Years Condemn''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1938; Auckland: New Women's Press, 1980. *''The Godwits Fly''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1938; **(edited by Gloria Rawlinson). Auckland: Auckland University Press / Oxford University Press, 1970. *''Wednesday's Children''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1937 **(edited by Susan Ash). Auckland: New Women's Press, 1989. Short fiction *''Where's Waari?: A history of the Maori through the short story''. Auckland: Reed 2000.Robin Hyde, New Zealand Literature File, University of Auckland. Web, Mar. 30, 2014. Non-fiction *''Journalese''. Auckland: National Printing, 1934. * "Poetry in Auckland", Art in New Zealand 1.9 (September 1936): 29-34. *''Dragon Rampant''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1938; Auckland: New Women's Press, 1984. *''A Home in this World'' (autobiography). Auckland: Longman Paul, 1984. *''Disputed Ground: Robin Hyde, journalist'' (edited by Gillian Boddy & Jacqueline D. Matthews). Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1991. *''The Victory Hymn, 1935-1995'' (edited by Michele Leggott). Auckland: Holloway Press, 1995. *''Your Unselfish Kindness: The autobiographical writings of Robin Hyde'' (edited by Mary Paul). Dunedin, NZ: Otago University Press, 2011. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Robin Hyde, WorldCat, OClC, Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 30, 2014. See also *List of New Zealand poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Robin Hyde in Kowhai Gold (8 poems) *Robin Hyde at PoemHunter (8 poems) *Robin Hyde at the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre *Iris Guiver Wilkinson at the New Zealand Electronic Texts Collection ;Books *Robin Hyde at the New Zealand Literature File ;About *Robin Hyde at New Zealand History Online *Hyde, Robin at the New Zealand Book Council *Wilkinson, Iris Guiver in the 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand *Hyde, Robin in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography Category:New Zealand poets Category:New Zealand novelists Category:New Zealand writers Category:New Zealand women writers Category:New Zealand journalists Category:1906 births Category:1939 deaths Category:New Zealand people of South African descent Category:Former students of Wellington Girls' College Category:Writers who committed suicide Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Women poets Category:Poets who committed suicide Category:Poets hospitalized for mental illness